Rajendra Mehta

Education

B.S. Gujarat University
Ph.D. University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Research Interests

The overall research goal of our laboratories is to identify new cancer chemopreventive agents and evaluate their efficacy in a variety of target organs. We have been working with in vitro and in vivo experimental models for breast, colon, lung and prostate carcinogenesis. Currently our research is focused on determining molecular mechanism of action of a relatively non-toxic analog of vitamin D in mammary and colon carcinogenesis. This analog was identified in our laboratory as a potential chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic analog of vitamin D and is currently being considered for clinical trials. Resveratrol, present in grapes and red wine, is another chemopreventive agent that was identified by us as an efficacious cancer chemopreventive agent. We have been studying molecular mechanism of action of resveratrol in colon and lung carcinogenesis.

Publications

• "Cancer chemopreventive activity of resveratrol, a component of the human diet derived from Vitis vinifera (the grape)" Jang M., Udeani G., Sowing-Barillas K., Thomas C., Beecher C.W.W., Fong H., Farnsworth N.R., Kinghorn A.D., Mehta R.G., Moon R.C., and Pezzuto J.M. Science 275: 218-220, 1997.
• "Stage specific inhibition of mammary carcinogenesis by 1a- Hydroxyvitamin D5" Mehta R.G. Eu. J. Cancer 40: 2331-2337, 2004
• "Chemoprevention of chemically induced mammary and colon carcinogenesis by 1á-hydroxyvitamin D5" Murillo G. Mehta R.G. J. Steroid Biochem and Mol. Biol. 97, 129-136 2005
• "Growth inhibition of carcinogen-transformed MCF-12F breast epithelial cells and hormone-sensitive BT-474 breast cancer cells by 1á-hydroxyvitamin D5." Hussain-Hakimjee E., Peng X., Mehta R.R. and Mehta R.G. Carcinogenesis 27: 551-559,2006
• "Ptohibitin is a target gene of vitamin D involved in its antiproliferative action in breast cancer cells." Peng X., Mehta R.R., Wang S., Chellappan S. and Mehta R.G. Cancer Res. 66,7361-7369, 2006.